New England Regional Elections: Voting Now Open

New England Regional Election: Cast Your Vote for Leadership Positions

Thank you for participating in the New England Regional election process. We invite you to cast your vote for the positions of President, Membership Chair, Secretary-Treasurer, and DEI Chair. Review the slate of candidates below, then cast your vote using the link provided.

Deadline to Vote: Friday, November 29th. Voting is reserved for SGIM members only.

President

Benjamin D. Gallagher, MD
Benjamin D. Gallagher, MD, FACP, is an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine and a Certified Hypertension Specialist. He is an outpatient general internist with a busy clinical workload and extensive involvement in medical education and clinic administration. Dr. Gallagher is recognized as a local and regional expert in hypertension and actively teaches medical students and residents. He has received multiple teaching awards for his commitment to trainee education. His primary research interests focus on clinical reasoning assessment and curriculum development related to hypertension, and he serves as assistant medical director of an academic primary care practice.

A graduate of Yale College and Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, Dr. Gallagher returned to Yale as a core faculty member at the New Haven Primary Care Consortium, where he provides direct patient care and supervises trainees. He developed a curriculum on advanced hypertension for Yale residents and adapted it into an online module for GIMLearn. He also serves as co-editor of the Yale Office-Based Medical Curriculum and is a Clinical Skills Lead at the Yale School of Medicine.

Personal Statement 

As I am sure it has been for many of you, SGIM has been my professional home since I attended my first national meeting as a resident. True to its members who wear multiple hats as academic general internists, the organization offers diverse programs in the realms of clinical care, education, research, and advocacy. In my case, SGIM introduced me to the possibility of a career that combines passion for patient care and teaching with scholarly evaluation of educational interventions. Each of SGIM’s regions has the potential to be a microcosm of the larger SGIM community, with the regional meetings providing opportunities for members to share their work and make connections with likeminded physicians from other institutions in their own backyard. Moreover, participating in SGIM at the regional level is often a gateway to the offerings of the national organization, especially for trainees and junior faculty. With appreciation for what SGIM has done for me, I would be honored to serve as President of the New England region. 

I am a graduate of SGIM’s Teaching Educators Across the Continuum of Healthcare (TEACH) program and a current member of the national Education Committee. Since 2023, I have been the Education Committee’s liaison to our region in planning the “bite-sized teaching competition.” This year I am a co-chair for the New England regional meeting and am serving on the planning committee for the 2025 national meeting. In 2023 I received our region’s Award for Excellence in Clinician Education. I developed a curriculum on advanced topics in hypertension for GIMLearn, which was released in April 2024, and I am now a member of the GIMLearn Editorial Advisory Board. I have reviewed submissions for JGIM and regularly review UpToDate articles on behalf of SGIM. In addition, I have presented at, reviewed abstracts for, moderated sessions at, and judged oral abstracts at multiple New England regional and SGIM national meetings. 

The New England region’s members work in a wide array of settings, from urban research universities to rural community hospitals. As President, I would use the administrative skills I have gained as an assistant clinic director and the curriculum development training I have received to plan a meeting that both broadens and deepens participation across our region’s varied institutions. I believe we can do more to solicit ideas for workshops and other presentation types from our members, and to make the sessions more interactive. 

I hope you agree that my experience as a clinician educator and record of service to SGIM at the regional and national levels make me well qualified to be President of the New England region. Thank you for considering my nomination. 

Membership Chair

Narinder Maheshwari, MD
Narinder Maheshwari, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at UConn Health, where he serves as a primary care physician and a medical educator. He completed his medical degree in Pakistan and an internal medicine residency at New York Medical College. Dr. Maheshwari is currently completing a Master’s in Clinical and Translational Research and has dedicated his clinical work to managing chronic conditions such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia. He is also a Co-Investigator on multiple research studies, including those focused on axial spondyloarthritis and glycogen storage disease.

An active member of ACP and SGIM, Dr. Maheshwari co-directs the Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum and chairs the DEI Committee for the SGIM New England Chapter. His work underscores a commitment to advancing equity in healthcare and clinical education.

Personal Statement 

A musician must make his music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to ultimately be at peace with himself – Abraham Maslow.  

The only way to be at peace is to do what we believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what we do. When we make a career choice, we need to make sure that we love our work because a large part of our lives is spent doing that work. For the same reason, I pursued my career in Internal Medicine. 

I came to the United States in 2009 after I graduated from Medical school and completed my Internal Medicine training in Pakistan. After coming to the United States, I did my Internal Medicine residency training at New York Medical College Metropolitan hospital in New York. During my residency, I was actively involved in teaching medical students and doing research and also presented multiple posters at conferences. After completing my residency training, I joined a private practice in East Hartford, CT, and worked at Saint Francis Hospital Hartford. There, I was involved in teaching residents as well. Currently, I have been working as an assistant professor in the department of Medicine at UConn Health since 2017 and completed my Masters in Clinical and Translational Research from the University of Connecticut in 2023.  

The majority of the patients with whom I interacted in my practice had the common triad of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Because of the frequency of complications due to the above medical conditions in this population of patients, I started to pay more attention to the one of common root causes, which is Lifestyle. As lifestyle is a modifiable risk factor, I have been trying my best to educate each of my patients about lifestyle changes that can possibly delay the onset of these disorders, and I am also planning to start a prediabetes clinic to teach/educate patients to prevent developing diabetes and its complications. To support my patient management beliefs, I am also working on a research project involving the impact of CPAP treatment among patients with sleep apnea in the prediabetes patient population.   

I am also a co-Investigator of the SPARTAN-funded axial spondyloarthritis awareness study (Know-SpA), where we surveyed PCPs about knowledge, attitudes, and approach in patients diagnosed with axSpA with the aim of finding unmet needs for educational interventions in order to improve education in axSpA. During this study, I learned about the ways to connect and collaborate with various organizations. I am also working as a Co-Investigator in a clinical trial on An Open-Label Dose-Escalation Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics of mRNA-3745 in Participants with Glycogen Storage Disease Type 1a (GSD1a). 

I am actively involved in teaching medical students in the clinic, group teaching for VITALS (Vertically Integrated Teams Aligned in Learning and Scholarship) program, actively involved in teaching residents, and working as Co-director of lifestyle medicine residency curriculum, among three residency programs (Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Primary Care) at UConn Health.  

I am an active member of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM). I am also a member of the ACP Connecticut Chapter Diversity/Equity/Inclusion (DEI) Committee. I am completing my 2 years term of Chair DEI committee for SGIM New England chapter. 

I really aim to take a more active part in SGIM at the regional level and would like to serve as chair membership elect. 

Besides work, I enjoy listening to music, reading books, playing tennis with my son, running, and spending time with family.  

I strongly believe that my credentials will help me become a valuable member and makes me a competent candidate for membership chair elect. Thank you for your consideration and support. 

Secretary-Treasurer

Christine Bryson, DO
Dr. Christine Bryson is an Associate Professor at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate and has over 20 years of experience as a hospitalist and clinician educator. She serves as the academic Medical Director for the Hospital Medicine Program and an Associate Program Director for Internal Medicine Residency. Her work focuses on sustainable career practices, quality improvement, medical education, patient safety, diagnostic reasoning, and reducing health disparities. Dr. Bryson has been actively involved in SGIM and other national medical societies, serving on various committees.

Personal Statement 

I am interested in being the treasurer/secretary for the New England region of SGIM for the coming term. I have become very interested in all the SGIM offers and have also gotten involved nationally on some committees. In the past I have served as the membership chair and enjoyed the opportunity to work with other members from around the country to try and increase membership and engagement. I particularly enjoy the fact that both local and national SGIM are small enough that you can really get a chance to know people and exchange ideas about teaching and practicing medicine in this current challenging climate. I would appreciate the opportunity to serve again and give back to SGIM as it is an organization I strongly believe is helpful to our profession and our patients. 

DEI Chair

Aba Black, MD
Aba (Osseo-Asare) Black, MD, is a faculty member in the Yale Section of General Internal Medicine. Her work emphasizes enhancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace, including minority recruitment, facilitating workshops on bias, and researching race-related impacts on minority physicians. Dr. Black also supports residents from minority affinity groups and develops cross-cultural curricula to foster inclusive learning environments.

In her role as Vice Chief for DEI at Yale, Dr. Black leads initiatives such as the Race, Bias, & Advocacy in Medicine Distinction Pathway for residents and organizes a full-day DEI retreat to foster reflection and build inclusive practices. She is known for her expertise in DEI and frequently speaks on these topics nationally.

Personal Statement 

I am a primary care physician and medical educator who cares for a highly diverse patient population in a patient-centered medical home. My clinical work represents a longstanding priority to promote health equity within primary care and dismantle social determinants of health. I hold several leadership roles in diversity education and administration, including Associate Program Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Yale Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program and Vice Chief for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in General Medicine. I have developed a reputation for expertise in these areas and am consistently sought out for speaking opportunities at Yale and beyond, nationally disseminating my work. As Vice Chief for DEI, I promote DEI best practices for my division. One of my most significant contributions is leading a recurring full-day DEI retreat which allows for reflection and awareness-building on topics to promote inclusive practices and safe learning environments. I am the founding director of the Race, Bias, & Advocacy in Medicine Distinction Pathway for internal medicine residents to develop additional DEI skills. 

VOTE HERE